Glassware foot



Patented Oct. 12, 1943 UNIT-ED STATES PATENT crews GLASSWARE. FOOT Henry Model, Weston, W. Va.

Application March 24, 1942, Serial No. 436,027

3 Claims.

This invention has reference to hand made articles of glassware which have a foot, a goblet being selected as a satisfactory but not mandatory example. It is frequently desired that the lower surface of the foot shall be provided with ornamentation, visible, of course, from above the upper surface thereof. Recalling that the present invention deals with hand made glassware, no satisfactory means or method for ornamenting the foot of a piece of glassware is known, so far as I am advised as to the state of the art: and the present invention aims to solve that problem. It is, perhaps, needless to say that the elaborate methods and machinery of the pressedware department are not appropriate or available in the case under discussion.

It will be understood that a person who abides by what is claimed, may make such changes as the skill of a glass worker may suggest, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing a device constructed in accordance with the invention, and capable of carrying out the method contemplated, parts being broken away;

Figs. 2 and 3 are sections, taken, respectively, on the lines 22 and 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section showing one means whereby the design-forming element may be adjusted;

Fig. 5 is a perspective showing one form of design-producing element.

As an illustrative but not mandatory means for carrying out the invention, there is provided a base I, to which is fixed a disk like member 2 having elements for producing the desired design. In this connection, such words as design, ornamentation and the like are to be construed as meaning a marking of any desired sort intended to catch the eye and located on the lower surface of the foot of an article of glassware. The member 2 preferably is made of metal.

It will be presumed, by way of example, that it is desired to leave on the foot of the article of glassware, a plurality of radial lines. Under such circumstances, the member 2 is supplied with a plurality of radial grooves 3 located in the upper surface of the member 2. Ribs 4 are mounted on the member 2 and may be V-shaped in cross section, each rib having a thinned fin 5, received in one of the grooves 3. The ribs 4 may be adjusted in or out, depending upon the size of the foot of the article of glassware and upon the design that is to be produced thereon.

The rib design, it should be understood, is no more than an illustrative example. A rod-like standard 6 is secured to the base I, preferably near one edge of the base, the standard carrying any desired number of spaced, U-shaped guides 1.

Assuming that it is desiredto produce a design on the lower surface of the foot of a goblet, the numeral 8 marks the foot, which is in a heated and plastic condition, the foot being connected to a stem 9, carrying a bowl Ill, joined to waste glass II, which is still mounted on the bell 12 of a blowing-pipe M.

In carrying out a method in accordance with the invention, to produce a design on the lower surface of the foot of a hand made article of glassware including a foot and an upper portion assembled with the foot, blowing pipe M is inserted into the guides l and the article of glassware is moved downwardly by hand, the blowing pipe being used as a handle, and the foot 8, in a heated and plastic condition, is brought into contact with the design producing elements, which may be the ribs 4 or anything suitable to mark the lower surface of the foot as desired. Both the method and the means are useful in producing ornamentation, printing and the like on the lower surface of the foot of a glassware article.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a device for producing a design on an article of glassware, typically represented by a tumbler including a bowl, a foot having a continuous lower surface occupying the entire area of the foot, and a stem connecting the bowl with the foot: a fixed member having a fiat, central surface for engagement with the central portion of the lower surface of the foot, upstanding, design-forming elements on the upper surface of said member and arranged about the fiat, central surface of said member, a blow pipe adapted for connection with the bowl, and means for guiding the blow pipe for straight line sliding movement along an axis passing through the center of the flat, central surface of the fixed member, the height of the design-forming elements being sufficiently small to avoid a distortion of the upper surface of the foot, the flat, central surface of the fixed member avoiding a spreading of the foot.

'2. In a device for producing a design on an article of glassware, typically represented by a tumbler including a bowl, a foot having a continuous lower surface occupying the entire area of the foot, and a stem connecting the bowl with the foot: a fixed member having a flat, central surface for engagement with the central portion of the lower surface of the foot, upstanding, design-forming elements on the upper surface of said member and arranged about the flat, central surface of said member, a hand-operated slide adapted for connection with the bowl, and means for guiding the slide for straight line sliding movement along an axis passing through the center of the flat, central surface of the fixed member, the height of the design-forming elements being suificiently small to avoid a distortion of the upper surface of the foot, the flat,

central surface of the fixed member avoiding a spreading of the foot, and the design-forming elements and the fixed member having interengaged parts cooperating to form a means whereby the design-forming elements may be shifted to difierent positions.

3. A device for producing a design on an article of glassware, constructed as set forth in claim 2, and wherein the design-forming elements are radial ribs, the ribs and the fixed memher being tongue and grooved together to permit inward and outward movement of the ribs, at the will of an operator.

HENRY MODEL. 

